I do wish you would desist from using the term ‘Red Tories’. There is nothing red about the Blairites or other advocates for austerity & privatisation.

]]>Comment on Democracy requires Jeremy Corbyn to win. by Karl Stewarthttp://socialistunity.com/democracy-requires-jeremy-corbyn-to-win/#comment-706691
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 10:45:29 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20246#comment-706691I see the Red Tories and their friends in MSM are still whining at Dave Ward’s absolutely spot-on description of the Mandelson political philosophy as a ‘virus’.

Don’t recall any howls of outrage from them when Tony Blair used exactly the same ‘virus’ analogy in his critique of euroscepticism a couple of years ago.

Shows how pathetic these Red Tory hypocrites are. They like to dish it out – calling us ‘morons’ ‘idiots’ tell us to get ‘heart transplants’ and attack another political viewpoint as a ‘virus’ – but boy oh boy, they just can’t take it when it comes back at them can they?

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Timhttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706687
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 22:07:53 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706687

Great points Karl about the electability, I’m often lost for words when armchair commentators who have never won (or predicted) an election in their life can claim with certainty the result in 2020. Did these same people predict a Tory majority in 2010 or an SNP whitewash in Scotland? If so I didn’t hear from them.

Tory majority 2015 this should say…

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Timhttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706686
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 21:57:33 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706686Hi Vanya, Karl, thanks for your replies.

Yes I will be taking a regular look here, now following SU on twitter also. 😉

Great points Karl about the electability, I’m often lost for words when armchair commentators who have never won (or predicted) an election in their life can claim with certainty the result in 2020. Did these same people predict a Tory majority in 2010 or an SNP whitewash in Scotland? If so I didn’t hear from them.

I have no doubt JC is the man to rebuild Labour with a team of passionate young MPs around him, principled young people like Kate Osamor and Richard Burgon to name but 2, both of whom voted against the Tory welfare bill. I’m not saying he will or won’t win in 2020 or even whether he will rin as leader or whether someone else developed under him may run.

For me 1.) JC has more proven experience at winming elections than any of those running against him and 2.) Anyone journalist or politician claiming to know what will happen in 2020 is lying, they arw simply covering their ideological gripes against JC with claims of “pragmatism”. Tony Bl*ir said it himself, he would rather lose on a centre right programme than win on a centre left one…these people are centre right ideologues NOT pragmatic progressives.

For me the objective now is to rebuild Labour as a social movement which can provide a coherent programme to speak to the majority who are not only not seeing the benefit of the supposed economic growth claimed by Osborne and Co, but are in fact paying the price for it. As it is growth for those at the top coming sirectly from our pockets, in terms of pay cuts, job losses, VAT tax hike, draconian cuts to the public services we depend on, etc. This is without even mentioning “systemic” threats such ax our disastrous foreign policy leading the world deeper into disaster, climate change, the unsustainable financial bubble which is only storing up worse economic crises for the future…

Not only is JC the best candidate in the race to answer these questions, he is the only one who is proposing solutions rather than proposing measures which will make these problems even worse!

This is NOT 1983 we CAN speak to the majority about these issues and win…especially the youth who are free of the 1980s Thatcherite prejudices, which back then were brutal but worked at revitalising the system, but which today are even more brutal, and cannot resolve the systemic problems either.

In the first instance, Labour needs to work out what it is for. What is its underlying political philosophy? In what direction does it want to take the country? What political values inform its policies? How and why is it different from the other parties on offer? What sort of people are its core supporters, and what does it need to do to retain their support? Two decades of focus groups and triangulation, of concentrating above all on “electability” in the short term, have left the party hollowed out and disorientated. They have allowed the political agenda in England to be set by the Tories, because a formerly left party which is constantly trying to take the “centre ground” will find that that “centre ground” is continually slipping away to the right. In Scotland, the results of neglecting the core supporters and chasing the “centre” have been even more disastrous. Triangulation is a trick you can only pull once…

If JC wins, I don’t expect anything miraculous. But if it leads to Labour rediscovering some kind of sense of purpose, that may be one of the necessary conditions for its recovery.

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Karl Stewarthttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706670
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 21:08:18 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706670Tim,
Hi Tim, excellent point – it’s also worth reminding the Red Tories that Corbyn has increased the Labour majority from 4,000-odd to over 21,000 since he first stood for his seat. He’s factually way, way more electable than any of the other three leadership candidates.

And if people respond by saying: “Oh well, that’s rock-solid Islington North,” then it’s worth reminding them that it was Corbyn who made Islington North rock-solid. It hadn’t been a rock-solid Labour seat before his time – 4,000 is not a rock-solid majority, but 21,000 is.

To put a picture of Churchill illustrating a story about the defiance of the Greek people.

You know nothing. Churchill is hated by the Greek left. The national liberation movement EAM nearly assassinated him. They were right. He ordered Scoby an the British army to open fire in the left. The British friends in Greece killed 28 civilians on a demonstration in December 1944.

Please do act in solidarity. But keep your politics about Greece to yourself. It’s just embarrassing.

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Vanyahttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706667
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:57:50 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706667#49 Nice one. Hope you stick around
]]>Comment on Democracy requires Jeremy Corbyn to win. by Feodorhttp://socialistunity.com/democracy-requires-jeremy-corbyn-to-win/#comment-706666
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:54:43 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20246#comment-706666Karl Stewart,

Any idea how the CWU arrived at this decision? In particular, was it the preserve of the leadership or were members consulted as well? Just curious as to how the process works and how significant such a recommendation is with the 200,000 or so CWU members.

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Andy Hhttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706665
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 19:22:46 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706665JOCK MCTROUSERS,

No I don’t have a better idea. Corbyn could be a John the Baptist figure I guess and you are right about getting the ideas and policies discussed and out there. And as vanya says the others are certainly not going to win either

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Timhttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706633
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 18:59:28 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706633Hello I am a first time commenter, congratulations on the Blog, good work!

Here is a comment I posted to an anti-Corbyn person on the Guardian, who seemed to be an honest Labour supporter but believed Corbyn was unelectable, using precisely this 1983 argument.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as you say, only 25% of the adult population voted for the Tories, why chase that old, white, middle class, diminishing demographic when there are 75% of people out there who rejected this?

EVEN IF you could get elected on that basis with one of these candidates (which I very much doubt – Andy is the only semi plausible one and a nice guy who I personally like but I don’t see him as PM in a million years)…then what kind of government are you left with? One even worse than Blairism, imposing the Tory cuts and xenophobia while pandering cravenly to the super rich?

No thanks that would not only be the death of Labour on a PASOK/PSOE scale, but also a tragedy for the working people of our country, which personally I don’t want to collaborate with.

So yes I think that left ideas can have more traction today than in 1983 our country is much more cosmopolitan and globally there is growing resistance to this clapped out neoliberal economic model.

Second young people today are nowhere near as captive to the media as back in 1983 or even 15 years ago when I was an adolescent. Today we have the big advantage that we can get our information directly to people and by pass what right wing media say – they still influence their ‘true believers’ but less and less the general population amd the young. Of course this only works if you actually have an alternative message in the first place and if you are prepared to take them on – something the SNP have shown and something which Ed M only realized on the eve of the election and therefore too late to make a difference.

So true I am speculating, but then again you are asking me to predict the future and to read the minds of “the public”, which neither you or I can do. But this is how I see it.”

By the way there is of course nothing wrong with being white and middle class, you could say I am that myself, my point was just that the Tories DO NOT represent a wide cross section of the population just a committed 25% hardcore of “true believers” concentrated in Middle England, and that those who say we should chase that vote are leading us down a Lib Dem Dead End.

By the way I am following your Blog on Twitter, again good work! 😉

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Vanyahttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706664
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 18:56:20 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706664The thing is Andy H, whatever you think about the electability of Jeremy Corbyn I can guarantee you 100% that not one of the other candidates has a cat in hell’s chance of winning an election, merely on the superficial personality-based theories of what makes a good leader, let alone the fact that their whole strategy is based on the belief that desperation is attractive.
]]>Comment on A Corbyn victory is not only possible, it is our only hope by nattyfochttp://socialistunity.com/a-corbyn-victory-is-not-only-possible-it-is-our-only-hope/#comment-706662
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 18:33:10 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20253#comment-706662

I wouldn’t read too much into GMB failing to endorse any candidate.There is an argument that given the slow take up of associate supporter status, the union has limited mandate

Thats just a cop out where i come from you stand for your principles and theres no doubt that those members of the GMB that are politically active [barring the MBE OBE and Sirs grovellers lickspittles ]want Jeremy as leader as you well know !

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by JOCK MCTROUSERShttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706661
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 18:16:54 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706661

Andy H: It really is not enough to simply expect people to fall in line with what you think is a good idea – you have to have someone that will convince others of that. If corbyn can’t do that it really doesn’t matter how great the policies are. I don’t see him as the right person – nothing to do with his political position

Well, the alternative is the already tried and failed option of one of 4 varieties of ” vote for us: we’re just like the Tories but less competent”, to which the electorate rightly replied ” what the fuck for?”

But if you think Corbyn’s politics are ok, but he’s not the guy to do it. well at least he could get those policies into the public forum and may our Sir Lancelot (or even Arthur himself) will rise to our cause…? That seems to me the minimum attitude to Corbyn that could be described as positive – have you got a better idea?

]]>Comment on A Corbyn victory is not only possible, it is our only hope by Andy Newmanhttp://socialistunity.com/a-corbyn-victory-is-not-only-possible-it-is-our-only-hope/#comment-706658
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:19:16 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20253#comment-706658nattyfoc,

I wouldn’t read too much into GMB failing to endorse any candidate. There is an argument that given the slow take up of associate supporter status, the union has limited mandate

I consider that the welfare vote was a turning point, but the failure of any union to back Kendall on the same day was highly significant, as an eclipse of Blairism as a force in the unions

]]>Comment on It is time to dispel the myth that Labour’s ’83 manifesto was too left wing by Andy Hhttp://socialistunity.com/it-is-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-labours-83-manifesto-was-too-left-wing/#comment-706656
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 13:32:44 +0000http://socialistunity.com/?p=20260#comment-706656JOCK MCTROUSERS,

It’s about being able to convince people of that. Lots and lots of people, including people that labour have to get voting for them next time in order to kick out the Tories have to be convinced that this will work. Im not arguing that this is a reason not to propose the policies Corby talks about but that you have to have a leader and others in the party that can explain and convince people that it will work. It really is not enough to simply expect people to fall in line with what you think is a good idea – you have to have someone that will convince others of that. If corbyn can’t do that it really doesn’t matter how great the policies are. I don’t see him as the right person – nothing to do with his political position